# harness vs Rocket.Chat

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | harness | Rocket.Chat |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 80/100 | 82/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #3 of 28 in CI/CD | #1 of 13 in Instant Messaging |
| GitHub stars | 38 745 | 46 348 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +318 ✓ | +187 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 6 | 36 ✓ |
| Latest release | v2.28.2 · 20 Apr 2026 | 8.5.4 · 16 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Easy ✓ | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Other |
| Main language | Go | Typescript |

## Which one should you pick?

Rocket.Chat scores 82/100 against 80/100 for harness, so it is the safer default.

Rocket.Chat ships more often: 36 stable releases in the past year, against 6 for harness.

If you want the quickest setup, harness is easier to run; Rocket.Chat needs more configuration.

## Details

- [harness](https://selfhost.directory/project/harness) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/harness.md)
- [Rocket.Chat](https://selfhost.directory/project/rocketchat) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/rocketchat.md)

## Related comparisons

- [Discourse vs Rocket.Chat](https://selfhost.directory/compare/discourse-vs-rocketchat)
- [Rocket.Chat vs Zulip](https://selfhost.directory/compare/rocketchat-vs-zulip)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/harness-vs-rocketchat